Page 86 of Reign of the Beast

His eyes narrowed. “Do not insult me. There is a barrier in place to the Alpha. It is not of Immortal magic, so I know it is not the sorceress’ doing. The Ancient possesses no magical ability. You are the clear culprit.”

“You’re all-powerful. Why do you need me to drop it? Can’t you just break through it?”

He took another step forward, spinning his sword idly at his side as he did, his agitation clearly growing. “You test my patience, Ryker.”

“Then why not just kill me?”

I heard gasps behind me from the Guardians at my near-goading of the maniac right in front of me who’d just murdered tens of the most powerful supernatural beings in existence in mere seconds without breaking so much as a sweat.

With an exaggerated shake of his head, evoking disappointment, he said, “You stand here ready to defy me in order to fulfill the wishes of a being who abhorred you? Don’t you recognize the absurdity?” He lowered his sword and regarded me curiously. “You understand now why the great Cornelius Martel levied such animosity upon you? He knew your potential also. And instead of embracing it as an asset, he saw it as a threat to his misguided belief in his indomitable standing as the most powerful and revered being in all the realms.”

“You’re telling me he knew I could do this?”

“Indeed. From the moment you were birthed unto this plane, he sensed a being of not only great power, but a unique power.”

Son of a bitch.

I forced myself not to react, to swallow the bitter pill down for the time being. Any flare of intense emotion risked destabilizing my magic. Too much was at stake to fall victim to that.

“Is Cornelius still alive?”

Draco smirked. “Duty above all, yes? I am sure you care not yourself.”

“It’s a simple question.”

“He lives. For the time being.”

“An Immortal can’t kill another of their kind.”

His lip curled in a twisted smile. “A loophole exists to every rule supposedly set in stone. You should know that better than anyone. It is where your strength truly lies, is it not?”

Did that mean he was searching for the dagger Mia had told me about, the Wrath of Hades, as it was so aptly named?

I couldn’t ask without giving my knowledge of it away, which would open up a whole other slew of complications. Assuming the worst was always the safest bet anyway.Shit.That put us on more of a time crunch than we’d already been facing. He’d just confirmed what we’d suspected. The only reason Cornelius was still alive was because Draco was still searching for the one thing that could kill his sworn enemy.

That settled it then, whether Mia liked it or not, she had to track the damn thing. We had to find it before Draco did.

As much as I hated the old bastard, the indisputable fact was that hewasneeded.

Already we’d been struggling to contain the fallout of him being weakened, his magic collapsing and destabilizing vital aspects of the supernatural world. Right now he was only incapacitated, not dead. If that happened, far too much would be lost.

The world as we knew it would collapse upon itself, chaos would rein, unimaginable bloodshed would flow indefinitely.

The simple fact was that there was nobody else strong enough to counteract the loss of Cornelius Martel, the fucking almightySilver Ghost.

Draco took a step toward me. “My patience wears thin, sorcerer. No more discussion.” He brandished his sword. “The offer is simple. Drop the ward concealing my descendent, or I will decimate this sacred place and your precious Guardians.”

A chorus of voices rang out, all trying to influence me.

It was deafening.

And, of course, all conflicting.

Some were commanding me to sacrifice whatever it took to protect the Covenant, our one shot at stopping Draco from overrunning the supernatural world.

Others were begging for their lives to be spared.

This kind of thing was exactly what happened when an organization was ruled with an iron fist by a megalomaniac dictator like Cornelius. Without him, it was left in disarray, a decision unable to be made. Worse than that, therightdecision unable to be made.

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